Amina

Amina (also Aminatu; d. 1610) was a HausaMuslim Warrior Queen of Zazzau (now Zaria), in what is now north central Nigeria. She is the subject of many legends, but is believed by historians to have been a real ruler. There is controversy among scholars as to the date of her reign, one school placing her in the mid-15th century, and a second placing her reign in the mid to late 16th century.

The Arabic female name Amina means truthful, trustworthy and honest.

History and sources

The earliest source to mention Amina is Muhammed Bello's history Ifaq al-Maysur, composed around 1836. He claims that she was "the first to establish government among them," and she forced Katsina, Kano and other regions to pay tribute to her. Bello, unfortunately provided no chronological details about her. She is also mentioned in the Kano Chronicle, a well-regarded and detailed history of the city of Kano, composed in the late 19th century, but incorporating earlier documentary material. According to this chronicle, she was a contemporary of Muhammad Dauda, who ruled from 1421–38, and Amina conquered as far as Nupe and Kwarafa, collected tribute from far and wide and ruled for 34 years. A number of scholars accept this information and date her reign to the early to mid-15th century.

Amina (magazine)

History

In 1970, Michel de Breteuil followed the example of the South African magazine Drum and founded several women's magazine in different African countries, before uniting all of them into one magazine named Amina in April 1972. Senegalese Simon Kiba was the cofounder of the magazine. For the first three years, its headquarters were in Senegal, before they were moved to Paris in 1975. Initially aimed at black women in Africa, it expanded its readership to Black women in the Antilles, Europe and North America over the years. The first edition contained a thirty-two page fotonovela in black and white, with only the first and the back page being in color. Reportages about social issues and fashion have been added gradually since. Amina has got the highest circulation of French-language magazines for black women with several ten-thousand copies per month.